Icompleted my MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business in 2003 in an economic climate quite different from today’s. When I graduated, my classmates
and I had many opportunities available
to us — there were multiple companies
recruiting on campus, and in general,
the hiring had occurred earlier in the
school year for most students. There
were some students who had multiple
offers and there were also a number of
students who were looking for the right
career fit for their next role and the
process took a slightly more drawn-out
route.

I happened to fall into thissecond category.I had pursued my MBA tochange careers — fromstructural engineering tothe investment side of the buildingindustry, more specifically the invest-ment in commercial real estate. Tobe on the transaction side of thisbusiness, I needed more than theability to design the support ofbuildings. I needed to understandthe language of commerce andfinance. I also wanted to have abroader understanding of manage-ment and strategy, and that is whyI chose to go to Ivey for my gradu-ate education.A big plus for me was that therewere many companies in need ofindividuals with my understandingof construction and who had alsohad an understanding of finance. Iwas fortunate and found my firstpost-grad position in an invest-ment advisory firm within a couple ofmonths of graduating. I continue towork for that firm to this day, almost sixyears later.

I could not have reached my current
position and management role without
attaining the necessary training in
accounting, finance and general management. My engineering skills were not
adequate on their own, so I had to pursue further education. Certainly, new
grads from the class of 2009 will be in
those same shoes — transitioning from
one career into something related but in
a totally different role, or in some cases,
moving into a totally unrelated role.
Given that there will be fewer roles available and the ones that are available will
have numerous qualified candidates

SALMAN HIRANI

applying, the question arises, does an
MBA degree have value in today’s economy?

In my view, it most certainly does.I realize that there are jokes floatingout there that the current situation wascaused by a lack of oversight of MBAgrads and there is inadequate emphasisin today’s curriculums at businessschools on good governance and attribu-tion of risk — which were major factorsin the global economic meltdown.Regardless of the jokes, I do believe someschools fail to address these issues alto-gether, but for the most part, businesseducation, like all higher education,plays a very important role in openingnew avenues and driving creativity in thebusiness world. On the whole, MBAs area driven and ambitious group — they arenot satisfied with the statusquo and arealways looking to improve processes,strategies, operations, revenue genera-tion and commercialization of new inno-vations. Sure, there may have been someMBAs — and non-MBAs as well —whomight have contributed to some of theslip-ups that played a part in where westand today, but I feel that MBAs canalso be part of the solutions to today’seconomic woes. Now, more than ever,the world needs people who have thetraining and ambition to lead companiesout of turmoil, to transform plummetingsales by introducing new business lines,to advance new technologies to the stagewhere they can reach the mass marketthrough new channels. The MBA is not abe-all and end-all solution, but it is cer-tainly a particular way of thinking, aprocess to solving problems and that iswhat the economy we are faced withtoday requires — a strong base in fun-damentals with the energy and cre-ativity to guide a way through this.New grads who can demonstratethat they have an ability to help toughdecision-making will be the ones thatwill succeed in today’s job market.Before Ivey, I thought the MBA wasa silver bullet that could magicallylaunch me into a prosperous careerwith a much higher salary. Luckily forme, I quickly realized success in myfuture required more than just thethree letters — it required hard work,perseverance and an ability to adaptto changing times. I truly believe thatany grad that can come into today’smarketplace and offer these threeingredients coupled with a can-do atti-tude will fare well and find the right role.